Reception

A reminder that the contribution for Autumn Term 1 is £8.00

WE ARE ALWAYS UPDATING THIS PAGE! REMEMBER TO LOOK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR NEW PHOTOS AND DOCUMENTS.

WELCOME TO RECEPTION CLASS

This terms topic is

'Why do you love me so much?’

In Reception our teacher is Miss Hopkins and our Learning Support Assistant is Miss Hanson.  Mrs Hopkinson will be covering Miss Hanson during her maternity leave.    

RE in the Early Years 

At St Patrick’s we teach RE using ‘Learning and Growing as the People of God’.  This document is the curriculum strategy for Religious Education in Catholic Primary Schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. It lays out clearly the steps to be taken in RE at each stage of every term in the Nursery and Primary Years. It provides, therefore, the foundations for improved partnership between school, home and parish, a partnership that lies at the heart of Catholic Education.

This term we will be exploring the units on 'Creation' and 'People who care for us'   

Creation: This unit develops the idea of creation to include the children’s gifts and talents as God given. The children will also learn that the Bible is God’s book.

People who care for us: This unit further explores family relationships within the context of caring for one another. Importance is placed upon the value of celebration. This is further developed by hearing about times of celebration Jesus shared with his family and friends.

Virtues & Values

Our focus for the first half of the Autumn Term is

GRATEFUL & GENEROUS 

Grateful: We are grateful for the gifts God has given to us, for the gifts of other people and the blessings of each new day. We are thankful for what we have and for the people around us. Generous: We are generous with our gifts and use them in the service of others. We are generous with our time and give of ourselves to serve others as God wants us to. We are generous with our actions, doing things to help other people and make a difference in the world.

LIFE IN RECEPTION

Our topics change regularly based on the children's interests, as well as environmental and cultural influences.  The topic for Autumn 1 is 'WHY DO YOU LOVE ME SO MUCH?'.  Each term we will upload our topic plan so that you can see what we are going to be covering.  

At St. Patricks, we follow the scheme Read Write Inc to teach Phonics daily.  Have a look at the documents and video clips at the bottom of the page for more guidance.   Reception children will begin to learn to read and write a new sound each day.  Reading books are changed once a week to give children the opportunity to reread the book to become fluent readers and talk about what they've read.   We award stickers to each child if we see at least 3 comments from home in their diaries per week.  The stickers add up to a prize at the end of term.  We also complete a weekly 'dough disco' session.  During this we manipulate playdough in different ways along to music.  Dough Disco helps to strengthen the muscles in our hands to support letter and number formation.  .

GOING FOR GOALS lead our weekly PE on a Thursday afternoon   Children will need white t shirts, black shorts or jogging bottoms and black plimsolls.  In order to support your child's independence in school.  Please encourage them to dress and undress themselves at home.

We are a very healthy classroom.  The children will get a free piece of fruit daily so you do not need to provide any snacks.  Children under 5 will also get a carton of milk.  Once your child turns 5 years old, you can pay should you wish to continue receiving a milk.  We also encourage the children to drink water throughout the day.  Please send your child with a named water bottle each day.  'The Friends of St Patrick's' have generously given the children their first bottle for free but additional bottles or tops can be purchased through school.

Each half term we send home a project.  This is an opportunity to work together as a family  The 'home learning projects' are returned to school at the end of each term and work is displayed so that we can all see how wonderful our children are.  

We capture some of  the children's learning using our online learning journal.  https://tapestryjournal.com/ Please log on and add photos or videos of your children at home.  This helps to inform our assessments as children will get different opportunities. 

Should you have any queries.  Please feel free to come and speak to me at the end of the day.

Miss Hopkins

OUR CURRICULUM

We follow the Early Years Framework which focuses on 3 Characteristics of Effective Learning:

Playing and exploring - engagement

       - finding out and exploring
       - playing with what they know
       - being willing to 'have a go'

Active learning - motivation

       - being involved and concentrating
       - keeping trying
       - enjoying achieving what they set out to do

Creating and thinking critically - thinking

       - having their own ideas
       - making links
       - choosing ways to do things

Each of these characteristics underpin everything we do, and are part of the 7 key

areas of Learning and Development in the Early Years:

Prime Areas

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

        - making relationships
        - self-confidence and self-awareness
        - managing feelings and behaviour

Physical Development

        - moving and handling
        - health and self-care

Communication and Language

        - listening and attention
        - understanding
        - speaking

Specific Areas

Literacy

       - reading
       - writing

Mathematics

       - numbers
       - shape, space and measure

Understanding the World

       - people and communities
       - the world
       - technology

Expressive Arts and Design

       - exploring and using media and materials
       - being imaginative

Each term we ask for a contribution to buy items to stimulate the childrens learning.  This may be a cooking or craft activity such as making biscuits or playdough.  Without your donations we would no longer be able to provide these opportunities.  

This terms donation is £8.  This is payable on  a weekly basis or as a termly payment.

Thank you